Shadrach's Ex Battery and Rescued chickens thread.

[thistlewick]

Not many people free range their flock like you do. Keeping 2 roosters in a run that isn’t very big is often problematic.
And even free ranging with more than 1 roo can be problematic. Remember @ManueB ‘s struggle with her roosters?

If you want to keep multiple roosters you might need a friendly family with nice characters like the Swedish and a great free range plot for them from sunrise till sunset.

fair enough. I'm trying to offer a counterpoint to those who generalize on the basis of their experience, which is usually keeping their birds confined (or just on what they read of course, parrot fashion).

Right now I have 1 Rooster and 2 sexually mature Cockerels and 2 more coming online in 3 weeks and then many >9 week olds - many. I have 14 laying hens, 1 laying pullet and about 7 16+ week olds who could at any time.


Of the 3 sexually mature boys, only the big dominant Rooster gets to mate without a fuss and often, the next oldest does as well and the dominant one doesn't chase him away NOR do the hens (except Harriet, who hates all boys) -- I am not there 100% of the time for their attempts but Chuck (big dominant rooster) doesn't even bother with Harriet much - he does get on her, but she isn't a favorite and Oscar (next in line) she is absolutely a NO and I yell at him when he tries lol Harriet yells too. (I tend to yell "She SAID NO!" lol it works!)

Interestingly, because Harriet is not a Chuck groupie, Chuck doesn't care if Oscar is giving chase on Harriet. Chuck only stops Oscar if one of his favorite ladies declines.

I've seen Chuck's favorites accept Oscar and Chuck accepts that if SHE accepts that.

Heath, the third subordinate sexually mature Cockerel -- well, hardly anyone likes him from the fully adult ladies but some younger pullets who grew up with him will accept his advances. I wish he'd stick to them LOL He is causing a bit of a ruckus with my big girls!

No fights though. I've never witnessed a single bit of flogging yet. From anyone. I try to hang out with them when all the action occurs morning and evening.

Daytime everyone is off and being extremely chill foraging or resting. I love ~3pm, no one can even be bothered to move if I show up anywhere near them. It's Siesta time and hot and s l o w. hahah They just look at me like 'oh, it's you'



I am realizing that my way of keeping chickens is the actual exception, not the rule and what I observe is very different than what most other people observe. So I find it incredibly valuable data.

My chickens have 24 acres to roam, but they use that old farmer's wisdom rule; 300 foot radius from the coop - and it's proven to be 100% accurate. You could take my plot and draw a circle from the hen house with that radius and THAT is their foraging range that they use. It might not be be an exact circle (my house sits in their circle) but it kinda is. That's 6.5 acres of circle btw. THAT is the area that chickens will actually use if left to their own devices. WAY larger than most people have available.

fwiw, on this amount of space, with an abundance of forage (thank you, North Carolina) I don't observe much hierarchy at all. No dominance among hens, no supplanting happens. No priority access. Because such space eliminates friction, I just observe all the fun stuff - their friendships and social dynamics of how they hang out together and relax and spend their time together, who forages with who, whose independent, whose brave, who is adventurous, who is shy or talkative and loves to tell stories.

I am grateful and also, really curious to continue to observe this special environment for them.

Tax:

very silly girls making comfy use of a stack of straw bales.

quite edit; It's not to say that dominance doesn't happen -- but because there is so much space and so little friction; it just isn't a thing - space to never get in anyone's way, kinda thing. "Free to be me" lol

 

[Labsandchickens8]

This thread has reached the quarter million views.

I can't imagine how many views it's had now!

Hello janiedoe. I see you've been reading from the alerts. The thread has got rather long. There is another person working their way through the posts, @Borders3 .
I'm pleased you've been enjoying the thread. It's a diary mainly, but thanks to the diversity of the thread contributors and their knowledge there is quite a lot of information in here somewhere.
The links are worth reading as they fill in much of the detail on various topics.
I'm not sure much of the thread would appeal to non chicken people Maybe one needs a certain amount of chicken madness to appreciate some of the content.
Welcome to the thread.

Hi everyone, I'm also here reading every single post like I said before. I haven't said anything because I thought it would be a nuisance to have someone comment on an ancient post. But it seems like I should introduce myself because realistically it's going to take a couple of months to get caught up. I am loving getting to know you through your posts from different parts of the world. I've learned so much and it has affected my chickens keeping plans, as I'll explain later.
I wanted chickens for probably 20 years, but the time was never right. I have 3 sons, lots of elderly family neighbors with few people to help them, and a very busy job. Those 3 grown sons, however, decided to build me a chicken run with a prefab coop from Amazon last summer (2024). Cringe now, because we've been working ever since to correct those mistakes.
The first 3 chickens I got, from a nearby breeder I found online, were 2 Polish I got for my granddaughters and a Bresse my husband found interesting. The breeder should have told us that wasn't a great combination, but I guess he just wanted our money. A month later I decided to order 7 chicks from a nearby hatchery (we drove to get them.) And there's been non-stop learning, adapting, building and planning ever since. And joy.

 

[Labsandchickens8]

My post, which hopefully is just above, has 3 pictures as tax:
1. Most of my girls crowded into the farthest corner of the run away from my husband who was using a stump grinder on the other end of the run so we can build a run just for the Polish
2. My BO Jane.
3. Some of my girls climbing on me

 

[no fly zone]

I can't imagine how many views it's had now!

2 million

 

[fuzzi]

I can't imagine how many views it's had now!

Hi everyone, I'm also here reading every single post like I said before. I haven't said anything because I thought it would be a nuisance to have someone comment on an ancient post. But it seems like I should introduce myself because realistically it's going to take a couple of months to get caught up. I am loving getting to know you through your posts from different parts of the world. I've learned so much and it has affected my chickens keeping plans, as I'll explain later.
I wanted chickens for probably 20 years, but the time was never right. I have 3 sons, lots of elderly family neighbors with few people to help them, and a very busy job. Those 3 grown sons, however, decided to build me a chicken run with a prefab coop from Amazon last summer (2024). Cringe now, because we've been working ever since to correct those mistakes.
The first 3 chickens I got, from a nearby breeder I found online, were 2 Polish I got for my granddaughters and a Bresse my husband found interesting. The breeder should have told us that wasn't a great combination, but I guess he just wanted our money. A month later I decided to order 7 chicks from a nearby hatchery (we drove to get them.) And there's been non-stop learning, adapting, building and planning ever since. And joy.

Welcome! I've been reading posts on this thread for a couple years, but I also went back to the first and read them all. Took a while!


There's a wealth of experience and knowledge here, and very little fussing.

It's my favorite thread on BYC.

 

[Skyeknight]

I don't observe much hierarchy at all. No dominance among hens, no supplanting happens. No priority access. Because such space eliminates friction

Maybe a bit controversial but at this moment in time I believe (haven't read scientific articles yet) that the pecking order is a sign of a disfunctional group dynamic. Most of the time in my experience I witness the pecking order stuff happening around food related stuff. In most husbandry settings a single (or few) food source exist with a lot of food concentrated in that specific area. This while red junglefowl normally have the whole jungle floor as their food source. In the wild there is no need to stand super close to each other in order to be able to get food. Any treats that are found could more easily be eaten by themself or shared if wanted, cause bushes are more space makes it less easy to be found. I haven't tested this with chickens myself, but it does look like that if you free range your flock dynamic should look way more fluid and unclear.

This is not something I witnessed in just chickens. I also witness it in sheep. In the pastures they have literally grass everywhere, so good luck trying to find out which sheep are the dominant ones without looking at them for literal hours. When we have them in the barns around lambing time, even though they have enough different food sources, you will clearly see specific individuals ram others away to get to a specific food source.

Do others witness this difference as well?

 

[SimpleJenn]

Just want to say that the pullet in the picture is not a Silkie. Silkies have the following traits: Walnut comb, crest, feathered feet, 5 toes, fibromelanosis and above all the silkie feathering. Sometimes Silkies can have a beard but that depends on the type.

Feet aren't visible so can't say anything about that. The comb seems to be a rose type, which could be possible in a Silkie as the walnut comb is the result of 1 gene for rose comb and 1 gene for pea comb. If this pullet is fibromelanistic then it's of incredible bad quality as the comb and wattles are basically all red. The face is darker but this could be a result of other melanizers. The Sumatra is an example of a breed with a darker face but no fibro. You can check for fibro by looking at the skin colour underneath the wings, in the vent or tongue.

The crest and defining trait of silkie feathering completely lack in this pullet. Silkies with normal feathering exist and are called "satin Silkies" but those are either F1 crossbreds or once outbred Silkies where the breeder didn't bother to keep the Silkie feathering bred in (I assume this name was basically made up to sell F1 crossbreds for high prices, like Americana's who are also just mutts). Silkie feathering a recessive trait is even named so because Silkies are always supposed to have it and no other breed.

I made this post mainly to educate about your pullet as it is in no way a Silkie. I do however absolutely love the way she looks! She has a beautifull colour scheme and comb in my opinion.

Sorry, yes I know she's not pure silkie. Her mother is silkie/legbar and her father was supposed to be the same mix...but the splash marans that was also in the pen is her actual father.
She has feathered legs and feet and is bantam sized.
I call her a silkie because she acts pure silkie! Her name is NavyBeans.
She's only 5 months old but is 100% committed to brooding, so I may give her the eggs that didn't fit in my incubators.

 

[Perris]

Not that I’ve never culled a rooster, or that I will never do it again, but I have no interest in culling a rooster simply because he attacked a human

ditto. I am going to have to grasp this nettle very soon, with the chicks growing fast, and quite a few of them cockerels.

It's my favorite thread on BYC

ditto. And by a country mile.

 

[Skyeknight]

Welcome! I've been reading posts on this thread for a couple years, but I also went back to the first and read them all. Took a while!


There's a wealth of experience and knowledge here, and very little fussing.

It's my favorite thread on BYC.

Maybe I should also start reading everything. Oh the things I could learn from it! but yeah I can believe it would take quite a long time to accomplish that...

 

[Perris]

Most of the time in my experience I witness the pecking order stuff happening around food related stuff.

yes, and roosting. Juveniles are given a hard time by coop door bullies (hens). And lower ranking roos can be given the run around by the dom.

On 'the hierarchy', my experience fits with your general comments; fluid and cryptic. I haven't had them penned even temporarily (akin to bringing sheep together for lambing) so I don't know how it might be different if they were cooped up.